Tennessee State nears sellout for Thursday's game with Murray State

Monday, February 20, 2012 at 9:31pm

Staff reports

Murray State won’t come to Tennessee State on Thursday as the nation’s last undefeated team.

TSU made sure of that two weeks ago when it knocked off the Racers on the road. But apparently that hasn’t slowed down ticket sales for the second matchup of the Ohio Valley Conference’s top two teams.

Limited tickets remain for Thursday’s game (7 p.m., ESPNU) at the Gentry Center between No. 14 Murray State (26-1, 13-1) and TSU (19-10, 11-4). On Monday, TSU announced that its 5,000 reserved tickets had been sold. General admission tickets are available for $10 for TSU’s last regular-season game.

Athletic department spokesperson Russell Luna said the school expects more than 2,400 TSU students in attendance, surpassing the previous record set in 2003 against Fisk. Students are strongly encouraged to pick up tickets ahead of time by stopping by the TSU ticket office. All students must present a valid student ID.

TSU averaged 2,773 fans at 12 home games this season, with its season opener against Fisk drawing a season-high crowd of 7,548. Capacity is 10,500.

Tennessee State is riding a nine-game winning streak — its longest since the 1994-95 season. That includes a 72-68 upset at Murray, which was ranked ninth at the time. It was TSU’s first win over a Top 10 team and clinched TSU’s first winning season in 16 years.

The Tigers have locked up the No. 2 seed for the OVC Tournament, which begins next Wednesday at the Municipal Auditorium in downtown Nashville. With one more win, TSU will record its first 20-win season since 1978-79.